Ask us, and well, after last week, we might have to say Felder Rushing. IMA TV stopped to chat with the Southern gentleman in the Oldfields orchard while he was at the IMA for his talk as part of our Planet Indy series. Check out the latest IMA TV episode and you’ll see why we’re crazy for this offbeat gardening guru.

There now. Wasn’t that nice? Now, let’s get right on to the story.

When I was a small child growing up in southern Indiana there was no such thing as a daffodil. There just wasn’t. Jonquils were not to be found. Narcissus (Narcissi?) were as non-existent as interstate highways. You only knew the gravel road and you only knew “Easter Flowers.” And they were yellow.

They were all yellow (including the one double one) with the exception of a mysterious double white. That double white had the very same shape as the double yellow and they didn’t always open completely. It was a special year when you got most of them to bloom out completely. To this day I have no idea what those special conditions are.

We had lots of the traditional yellow trumpet shaped ones in our yard. Every spring they would push their sturdy strap shaped leaves through the clayey soil and the fresh green grass (okay, some grass with mostly white clover). Easter flowers were tough. They had to be to survive nine children, an assortment of dogs and pups, plus the occasional sow or cow out for a spring stroll. They can also fend off deer and rodents. They grew and bloomed in the shade of the old walnut and sugar maple trees, in the sunny open areas of the yard, and right along the edge of the gravel road. They lived in the dry areas and the wet areas. They were tough and reliable.

We always picked some for bouquets, sometimes dying the water green or blue and watching as each day the color showed up in the flowers more and more. It would follow the veins right to the tip of the trumpet creating vivid multicolored flowers. I haven’t tried that in years. Maybe it is time.

I am not certain if the doubles were always in the yard because I remember when we started collecting them from the old homestead on my uncle’s farm just at the top of the hill behind our farm. We would dig them in bloom. They always survived even if it took an extra year to bloom again. I think his plowing the field near the homestead kept the bulbs healthy by dividing them ever so often. On a late collecting trip we discovered the small flowered Pheasant’s Eye daffodil. The tiny yellow cup with a red rim was surrounded by perfect little white flat petals. And they were fragrant. We added these to our collection.

The first daffodil I ever bought was Mrs. R. O. Backhouse, white with a “pink” cup. You had to squint real hard to call it pink. It was the softest salmon. I paid 75 cents for three bulbs from Henry Field Seed Company. I remember taping the quarters to an index card or something. It was like a hundred bucks to me. That clump multiplied over time with no real care at all. Years later I found out it was an heirloom variety. Forty or so years later they are still there. Here’s an image I found at Old House Gardens on the right.

Today there are many pink daffodils along with reds, oranges, whites. On average when we talk about pink, red, or orange we are talking about the corona (the cup or trumpet in the middle) not the perianth (the petals – really a combination of petals and sepals- surrounding the cup). Along with the colors are all the forms – double, split cup, tazetta, small cup, large cup, twelve in all. You can have daffodils blooming from February through May. They can be only a few inches tall or a foot and a half tall. Here’s a sampling taken this week from our gardens at the IMA .

The Indiana Daffodil Society and the American Daffodil Society can tell you lots more. The Heaths of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs also have an excellent book, Daffodils for American Gardens.

You can also come to the gardens here and see thousands upon thousands of them in bloom this very week-end.

Don’t forget your bonnet for the Easter Parade. And since you know I’m all about the sweet stuff let me just say I hope the Easter Bunny brings you lots of candy, sweet sugar coated candy.

Check it out! We’ll have a treasure trove of unique plants and there’s bound to be something on that list calling your name.

Dicentra 'Burning Hearts' courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc

Crocus seiberi ‘Tricolor’ around Sutphin Fountain.

The three colors in ‘Tricolor’.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) still make me happy no matter how many years I’ve seen their spring show.

Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) are very happy little bulbs.

Even on a gray day their bright yellow color absolutely glows.

The honey bees love them. Look at all the pollen on the bees leg.

The bees tended to take flight just as I was ready to snap the photograph.

Bee butt.

Now get your butt to the IMA and enjoy this glorious weather.

Snowdrops behind Deer-Zink are blooming.

Some of the Anemone blanda ‘Blue Shades’ in the beds around the Sutphin Fountain are very close to blooming.

Witchhazels are blooming all over the place.

Perennials are pushing new growth.

And I saw winter aconite that will be in bloom tomorrow. Hellebores should be showing color too.

So much happening. More later.

At least with experience I am able to spot some of the n’er-do-well types before they break my heart – “Oh. You again. Go throw your piddly-assed blooms in somebody else’s flower bed. Just seeing something like you again makes me want to go right out and buy a 50 gallon barrel of RoundUp.” That can be especially true when I can see it’s just the straight species that somebody has tarted up with a cultivar name or a trademark like a bunch of cheap make-up from the Village Pantry. C’mon! Who the hell you people think you’re dealing with here?

But all that said, I still get all excited when the catalogues come out or somebody introduces a plant at PPA’s New Plant Forum. My cynical side is forever at war with my everything-is-roses-and-clover side. A battle of epic proportions. “This plant really could be different!” I really do believe it, at least until I fully process the info. Wouldn’t you rather think it was new and improved and impossible to live without? Ah, infatuation. Maybe it will develop into truly perennial love?

In my last post I mentioned the arrival of the new plant and seed catalogues. This was referring mostly to retail businesses. We have had some of the 2010 wholesale catalogues since last summer. The very nature of wholesale (not to mention the budget) makes it difficult to order all the plants that tempt me. I might be able to try 5 of some new must-have plant but if I am forced to order 25 or 32 or 96, well, it just ain’t gonna happen. I will have to wait until more wholesalers carry it and some of them will sell it in smaller quantities. Or, goddess forbid, I’ll have to pay (deep breath here) retail. It hurts to even say it. Once you go wholesale there’s no going back.

So which perennial pimps are bringing out my horticulturally slutty side? Some of the usual suspects. Terra Nova once again is introducing a huge number of plants in 2010. And they aren’t all heucheras! I’ve mentioned before I have a real weakness for the red/orange/yellow Echinaceas. I want all Dan Heims has (the plants, the plants people). If I must narrow it down to….. let’s say three. Then I pick ‘Tangerine Dream’, Hot Lava’ and ‘Coral Reef’.

'Tangerine Dream' (terra nova)

'Hot Lava' (terra nova)

'Coral Reef' (terra nova)

I admit it. I want to pull all the ray flowers off that last one. Or alternatively, pull them off half the flowers and reattach them to the half still with ray petals.

Sticking with coneflowers for another moment, Plants Nouveau has added ‘Marmalade’ that has “blooms the color of tart orange marmalade”. Want it bad. Real bad.

'Marmalade' (plants nouveau)

Plus there is ‘Pineapple Sundae’, ‘Strawberry Shortcake’, and Raspberry Truffle”. All part of the Cone-fections series. Food and plants. What a concept? Actually, sweets and plants. Now that’s a concept. Maybe they will name one ‘Butter and Brown Sugar’. I would buy a truckload. Oh! How about ‘Buttered Brown Sugar Bacon’? I would buy the whole world’s supply.

If you are seeing winter hardiness problems with these new hot-colored Echinaceas it may be you need to do a little research. I did. Remember they are not pure E. purpurea but rather most are this species crossed with E. paradoxa. They are both Echinacea true, but quite different in their requirements. The resulting progeny require slightly different care than many of us are used to giving coneflowers. Read the blog by Angela Treadwell Palmer on the subject here. Read an article from Dan Heims here. Some sound advice for all.

Walters Gardens has some new Hibiscus moscheutos (hardy hibiscus). Don’t know if I am wild about the dwarf sizes because the normal types are better at competing with my real tropicals in the garden. ‘Sultry Kiss’ looks sexy as all get out. And who on Earth would not want some sultry kisses in the garden? Only a fool. It says magenta-red flowers (hot damn) and foliage that emerges bronze and goes dark green.

'Sultry Kiss' (Walters Gardens)

It sounds really good though I am still a big fan of the Fleming Brother’s ‘Fireball’, which I have grown.

Coreopsis that is NOT yellow and is HARDY?! I’m not counting those pinkish things. The one catching my eye is a sport of ‘Crème Brulee’ that was found by Sunny Border Nurseries. It’s called ‘Sienna Sunset’.

'Sienna Sunset' (Walters Gardens)

I love the peachy color. It would look great with coppers and blues.

Why plants from these particular vendors? In part because they introduce a lot of plants. In part because their catalogues were on my desk. Some even have a link on their site for the general public (it’s the one included here if available). You see, you don’t have to be a professional plant slut to visit these sites. Any ole plant slut can go to them and ogle to their heart’s content. So don’t fret. I’m taking care of you.

You’re welcome.

“Both escape and embrace winter?”, you ask. My, you are a nosy one. I’ll be nice and not tell you to mind your own damn business. For me searching through the catalogues this time of year really is an escape and an embrace of winter.

The escape part might be the easier to understand. I can run away to spring and summer when I will be able to plant the plants and sow the seed. I can imagine how beautiful that Colocasia ‘Diamond Head’ will look with Salvia ‘Black and Blue’.

I can see how pretty those orange bell peppers will look sautéing in dab of butter and olive oil with some green zucchini and purple eggplant. All very summery daydreams warming my world on a day below freezing with the ground covered in snow.

Now, the embracing of winter part might be less obvious. But think about it for a moment. Until sometime in December the garden is usually keeping me pretty darn busy. In October and November I’m so busy cutting back annuals, digging cannas and dahlias to be stored in the basement, and potting up salvia and hibiscus and alocasia to be overwintered near a window that final clean-up occurs late often. Then the holidays hit. Poof. Another two weeks gone. It is really sometime in January before I can shift out of go-go-go gardening mode and shift into dream gardening mode. So yes, I embrace winter for giving me time to dream garden. And that is what looking at all the wonders in all the catalogues is for me – dreaming of how great that new plant will look with the Dahlia ‘Not Hot Chocolate’ sleeping in the basement, dreaming of how perfect some Okra ‘Burgundy’ will look with pepper ‘Tequila Sunrise’ next to Swiss chard ‘Oriole Orange’ next to Lantana ‘Landmark Citrus’ (hopefully surviving in a plastic bag in the basement) and rising above it all Amaranthus ‘Dreadlocks’ that self-sows around the garden.

So who is getting me to open their pages and disappear for a spell? There are so many options. It’s hard to beat Baker Creek for heirloom vegetables. But they also have rare things from all over the world plus some flowers. Tony Avent of Plants Delight is always a good read (even if you can’t always embrace the whole idea on the cover). The man can find the plants! I have a lot of stuff from there. Select Seeds is another with lots of heirlooms but it’s all about flowers and foliage (seeds, bulbs, and plants).  Brent and Becky’s Bulbs is another favorite. I can sit at my kitchen counter and just while away the hours, especially on a cold sunny day with two windows facing south. Maybe I’ll have a batch of cookies in the oven.

And on-line? Mercy sakes alive! It is a fabulous world out there. When I have not received a catalogue yet, or don’t expect to, it’s off to the iMac to see if they have their 2010 catalogue on their website (some places don’t even do a print catalogue). There’s Seed Savers Exchange, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (p-lease, it’s southern y’all), Ronniger Potato Farm (always think I’m gonna plant potatoes), Seedhunt, Bountiful Gardens, Grow Italian, Bustani Plant Farm (are they ever tempting me this year!), Totally Tomatoes (they have peppers too). Then there are all the old stand-bys like Gurney, Jung, and Park for sure. And of course Sandhill Preservation Center (is this the year I finally order sweet potatoes?). Sandhill is one of my favorites. Not only do they have heirloom vegetables and flowers but they have heirloom and rare poultry. Lots of chickens. I love chickens. I’d love to have a chicken ranch. Not like the one in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. One with real chickens. But that isn’t part of life’s current situation. The problem with on-line? My dining room, where my computer resides, doesn’t have a southern window. Oh, but I added that opening in the wall – next to the doorway between the dining room and kitchen! Lots more light into the dining room. It’s looking like a good time to dream garden.

Sorry folks, I done runned out of time to add links to all these places in this post. But I assure you, all or nearly all, are on-line.
And another thing. I don’t need a hundred acres for that chicken ranch. You know, a lil’ ole bitty pissant country place would be just fine.

Icy roads. Short days. Bitter winds. Freezing temperatures. The bloody freaking temperatures absolutely scream winter. It’s especially a slap in the face after the extremely long beautiful autumn. But that was then and this is now and winter will be what it wants to be.

On December 2nd this is what some Echinacea ‘Sundown’ and a Campanula ‘Viking’ looked like.

On December 7th this is what my ‘Rocket Lemon’ snapdragons looked like. A lot can change in 5 days.

Now ideally you want some snow cover for the plants when it gets down in the low teens and below. Most plants are fine though. But what of my slightly more tender stuff where I’m pushing the zone envelope? Makes me a bit antsy to say the least. I should have got mulch around the other set of Colocasia ‘Tea Cups’ in my backyard. At least I got one group mulched. Maybe it’s a good experiment. See who makes it. Or doesn’t. The perennials and small shrubs that went in the ground late are a concern. I would have liked them to have a month or so of “normal” winter temperatures before the deep-freeze hit. Here again may be a good experiment.
Of course the cold weather does tend to make the Christmas decorations around the Lilly House just a little brighter. Whether it’s the trees indoors or the ones outdoors.

And it makes the 750 or so luminaria we put out for the Open House and Winter Solstice all the more beautiful. If you missed Open House you can redeem yourself by being sure to attend the Solstice events on the evening of the 17th. Just the thought of all of you coming warms my frozen candle lighting fingers right back up to blood flowing temperatures. The luminaria are truly magical.

With the snow that fell Monday morning came a reminder of why I do like winter at the same time I hate it. Hard to beat snow with evergreen foliage.

And if you can add some holly berries, well, all the better.

These shots may clue some folks in on why we don’t cut every dormant plant to the ground in late fall. All those seed heads make the best little presentation platters for the snow. They’re just beautiful.

Astilbe.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’.

Clematis tangutica ‘Aureola’.

Echinacea ‘Milkshake’. The seeds in there will feed the birds too.

So Winter, bring it on. Just like with people, I can’t make you do what is best so I’ll survive your spastic attentions as best I can and wait for Spring – which of course will come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Whatever.

Lycoris chinensis

I am not alone in this desire to push the limits of hardiness. I know a lot of people with Zonal Denial. Virtually all my coworkers and many friends as well are afflicted. I’ve long said that if I was gardening in the tropics I’m sure I would be trying to grow maples and beeches. It must be the I-can’t –have-it-so-I-want-it-even-more syndrome. Before I can even tell you about some successes I must confess some failures (it’s the recovering Catholic in me).

Let’s go alphabetical – Acanthus mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’, Agave parryi, Canna ‘Red Stripe’, Colocasia esculenta ‘Tea Cup’, Crocosmia ‘Eastern Star’ and ‘Walcroy’, Musa basjoo (two in one year and it is a zone 5 but I forgot to mulch), Salvia mexicana ‘Limelight’, some palm tree, and many more I’m sure. There. I feel better.

One of the first non-hardy plants I had success overwintering in the ground was Salvia guaranitica, anise sage. The incredible cobalt blue flowers of this salvia are unsurpassed.

And they bloom from July onward so it’s great color for a really long time. The first couple years I had it in the Southwest Border Garden I dug it in the fall and tried to overwinter it like a dahlia. Dead. They do develop tubers similar to dahlias but I had no luck. Then one year I decided to leave them in the ground and see what would happen. Success! The straight species and the light blue ‘Argentine Skies’ (or is that ‘Argentina Skies’?) have been in the garden ever since.

A few years later we added ‘Black and Blue’ which has proven just as hardy. ‘Black and Blue’ is my favorite because the calyx that holds the flower is black as is the upper part of the stem.

I have friends whose plants are increasing in size annually. An interesting aspect of this plant is it seems to get taller when it comes back from overwintered plants compared to newly planted specimens. So if you want a plant under 3 feet buy new. Also, with marginally hardy salvias it is best to leave the stems alone over winter. If you cut them off the water can run down the stem in to the plant crown. The water freezes and the crown blows apart.

In the Garden for Everyone a Lycoris chinensis (surprise lily, naked ladies) was blooming last week. There’re probably 3 or more plants really but only one blooming. The individual flowers are stunning in their deep yellow color and form sitting atop naked 2 feet tall stalks.

In some catalogues you can find it listed as a zone 6 with “maybe 5” added. Sometimes it is listed as zone 7 and warmer. Somebody suggested we try it so we bought 5 bulbs. Unlike the more familiar Lycoris squamigera, the leaves of L chinensis emerge in the fall. In Indiana that is not the best timing. Winter can be a little hard on foliage. But these plants get enough energy back to the bulb for at least some bloom. I definitely want some for home. The red flowered Lycoris radiata deserves more trialing too (I’ve only killed it once).

Now, back to the Southwest Border Garden where Impatiens omeiana has been flourishing since 2002. This perennial impatiens is listed as a maybe-6. I. omeiana is grown for the foliage, bronzey green with a creamy midrib and veining – absolutely gorgeous. Added interest is provided by the reddish stems and leaf petioles.

The pale yellow flowers come in fall and are interesting but not overly showy. This is a plant more gardeners need to experiment with. My photo from this week doesn’t do it justice. You see it May through July and it’s full-on lust. Check for better pictures on our Facebook page.

Sometimes (okay, more often than not) we discover a plant that is hardy by accident. Well, not accident so much as forgetfulness.

Calla lilies are not considered hardy in central Indiana. And often are not. But in the lower cutting garden is a cultivar called Mango. It has survived 5 winters in the ground and the clumps get a little bigger each year. It had been purchased for a container one year and the next I planted it in the ground. That fall I forgot all about it. In late Spring a leaf started to unfurl from the soil, deep green with white spots. It was ‘Mango’. The white callas I had bought to use for cutflowers weren’t doing so great so I thought, “Why not leave them in the ground too? At least I would get a few blooms”. They died the first winter. Like I said, it’s a gamble. This year I have 3 Eucomis bicolor (pineapple lily) up that were missed in the fall dig. This is the second time we’ve experienced that. My friend Terry had Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ self-sowing in her garden a one point.

I’ve had Agapanthus come back once – one out of about 10 plants. At home I had a Phygelius (Cape fuchsia) survive several years. Never would have thought that could happen. And all those plants I listed as failures? Don’t think for a moment I won’t try again. I can keep making believe I’m gardening in zone 7 a long time.

Image from slantmouth.com

But I won’t whore myself. When accepting payment it must be clear that it is no guarantee of a favorable review at a later date. Not every thing is as great as the marketing would suggest. Shocking. Of course human nature makes me giddy with excitement over many of these new and exciting and best-ever-introduced plants. It’s variegated? I’m smitten. It’s chartreuse? I’m falling in love. It’s orange? I’m shopping for a ring. It’s all of those? I’m booking the wedding hall and registering at Target. The result of placing my chlorophyll in such a vulnerable spot is that some times my little horticultural heart gets broke – “I was sure this was the one that would bloom forever (sob, sob)”. But I know the pain will ease and soon I will be lusting and loving anew. Ah, the life of a plant slut.

Sometimes a plant isn’t so much sexy as practical. I think many natives fall in this category.I wouldn’t call Tiarella sexy. Pretty? Maybe. A hard worker? For sure. These woodland plants bloom in spring usually with new selections continuing until as late as July. Flowers are usually white with a pink blush but some are a rue light pink. They have very good foliage all season. I’m now trialing five new cultivars of running Tiarella cordifolia, foam flower from Plants Nouveau. Tiarella tends to be either a clumper or a runner. Runners can make better groundcovers because they spread by sending out runners, small plants on the end of horizontal shoots. These are all native to eastern Pennsylvania and named after five rivers in that region. Here are pictures of two.

'Delaware' (Plants Nouveau)

'Susquehana' (Plants Nouveau)

We will have to see if they like Indiana as well. I don’t think there will be a problem as we grow plenty of Tiarella already.

Some natives on the other hand are sexy. The Silphiums in all their big, bold, bodacious beauty are a fine example. Another example would be Tiarella’s somewhat slutty cousin Heucherella, a hybrid resulting from a one-night stand between a Tiarella and a Heuchera (coralbell). Heucherella is sometimes called foamy bells (foam flower x coralbell). The result is plants with flowers generally larger than Tiarella blossoms but smaller than Heuchera blossoms. Some have dark pink flowers. Now all the fantastic colors of Heuchera foliage is being introduced to these plants. Terra Nova has some hot ones right now. I am very interested in trialing some of these as well (my wish list is growing daily and gets sent next week). Jimmy Turner – I can’t help it, I have to call him by both names – Director of Horticulture Research at the Dallas Arboretum, likes them so I know they can handle heat and humidity. My favorite is probably ‘Golden Zebra’ though ‘Sweet Tea’ makes my blood boil a little too.

‘Golden Zebra’ (Terra Nova)

‘Sweet Tea’ (Terra Nova)

So many plants, so many vendors. Such is the life of a plant slut. Now, who had that chartreuse-leaved daylily with delphinium-blue flowers?